S. Weasel has it all broken down for us Yanks. It’s quite a bit more serious than I had imagined. You really need to read the whole thing (it explains the domestic anger and how MPs tried to cover the whole thing up), but here’s a money quote:

Members of the British Parliament are expected to keep a home in their constituency district and also have accomodation in London for when Parliament is in session. Two homes. London is the second most expensive city in the world. The average MP makes £64K per annum (around $100,000).

You could swing it, but it would be pretty tight. So, rather than pissing the voters off by giving themselves a fat raise, the government set up an easygoing allowance scheme that would reimburse them up to £24K ($38K) in expenses a year. Few questions asked.

It’s like your boss saying, “I can’t give you a pay increase this year, but I’ll turn a blind eye if you swipe office supplies and pad your meal allowances.” No big? Ah…but X factors have whipped this into the perfect political sh*tstorm.

Check out her website to see what those X factors are. Bottom line: Wasteful spending of taxpayer funds by elected representatives? Welcome to our world. In fact, I’d take the £8,865 Bang & Olufsen widescreen TV over the $300 million bridge to nowhere or the $600 million heritage trail. And yet check S. Weasel to see the massive double-standard to the public’s disadvantage.